Westbury

BUDGET

SPENDING $155,908,977, a 3 percent increase from the current $151,360,739.

TAX LEVY 2.98 percent increase, from $77,925,418 to $80,249,802. This is within the district's 3.2 percent tax-cap limit, so a simple majority vote is required for approval.

TEACHER PAY / PROGRAMS Includes a 1.15 percent contractual increase and an average 2.16 percent step increase. The proposed budget adds an assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, three reading teachers, a technology media teacher, two guidance counselors, three security guards and a cleaner.

PROPOSITIONS

Proposition 2 seeks authorization to establish a capital reserve fund for future renovations and repairs to classrooms and facilities throughout the district. The annual contribution to the fund would not exceed $2.5 million per year and would be limited to $25 million over the 10-year period. Approval of the proposition will not affect the tax levy.

WHEN | WHERE

6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Drexel Avenue, Dryden Street and Park Avenue schools and Westbury Middle School. www.westburyschools.org

CANDIDATES

Carlos Aristy, Karin Campbell and Floyd Ewing and incumbents Sherley Cadet, Pedro Quintanilla and Robert Troiano Jr. are running for three seats, elected at-large. Terms are three years. 

Carlos Aristy

BACKGROUND Aristy, 65, has lived in the district for more than 40 years. He has a bachelor's degree in education and romance languages from University at Albany and now runs Long Island Chess Inc. Aristy has two daughters, one of them a music teacher at Westbury Middle School. Both graduated from public schools in the district. Aristy previously served on the school board from 1998 to 2007. He is running as a team with Floyd Ewing.

KEY ISSUE Aristy thinks there needs to be greater transparency in the district.

Sherley Cadet

BACKGROUND Cadet, 44, is a speech language pathologist who has lived in the district for 25 years. She has a bachelor's degree in speech language pathology and a master's degree in applied behavior analysis, both from LIU Post. She is vice president of the Haitian American Political Action Committee. She has three children, one of whom attends a public school in the district. Cadet has served on the board since 2016. She is running as a team with Pedro Quintanilla.

KEY ISSUE Cadet wants to see graduation rates continue to improve, ease overcrowding and close the achievement gap between Westbury schools and those in surrounding districts. 

Karin Campbell

BACKGROUND Campbell, 58, has lived in the district since 1972 and graduated from the high school in 1978. She is a substitute teacher for Nassau BOCES. She has a bachelor's degree from Fisk University and a master's in human resources and labor relations from New York Institute of Technology. Campbell is president of the church council at Lutheran Church of Our Savior in Mineola and counselor at the North Shore Sheltering Program in Glen Cove. Her son currently is enrolled in private school. Campbell served on the school board for 15 years. 

KEY ISSUE The district needs to address overcrowding and shrink its class sizes. Campbell also said the district is "in desperate need of social workers" to serve its large population of students who are homeless. 

Floyd Ewing

BACKGROUND Ewing, 49, was reared in Westbury and graduated from the high school in 1987. He works as a commercial finance consultant. Ewing has a bachelor's degree in political science from Columbia University and a law degree from the University of Notre Dame. He has twins in the seventh grade at Westbury Middle School. He served on the board from 1999 to 2009. Ewing is running as a team with Carlos Aristy. 

KEY ISSUE The district needs to deal with overcrowding and must better prepare its students for college and joining the workforce by providing more courses and resources, he said. 

Pedro Quintanilla

BACKGROUND Quintanilla, 50, has lived in the district for 29 years. He has a bachelor's degree in finance from SUNY Old Westbury and works in real estate and finance. He is on the Latino Advisory Council in the Village of Westbury. Quintanilla has a daughter who attends a Catholic school and a son in prekindergarten. He has served on the school board since 2016. Quintanilla is running as a team with Sherley Cadet. 

KEY ISSUE Continued improvement of district schools and better preparation of students for college or vocational schools by "making more available to our students, whether it's AP courses, financial courses or ELA courses."

Robert Troiano Jr. 

BACKGROUND Troiano, 66, has lived in the district for 58 years. He has a bachelor's degree from Brown University and a master's of business administration from Stanford University. He has three children who all graduated from district public schools and a grandson attending a district elementary school.

KEY ISSUE The district is overcrowded and underfunded, Troiano said. He wants to continue to lobby state and federal legislators to capture the funding to which he said the district is entitled.